J Francho

Pickerel and pike are not the same thing. Chain pickerel and Northern pike are two different species. But since there is no N.pike down here, ppl commonly use the term pike to describe chain pickerel. I've never caught a N. pike. Colloquialisms can be tough to overcome on an international forum

I have several that range from a couple to several years old. They are a decent rod. They are slowly getting replaced by some of the newer, lighter gear that is out now, but the ones I still have continue to serve me well.

That's funny because it kind of true. I actually let the fish slap him in the face with its tail while he slept. He just swore at me and went back to sleep, ;D

Some of Big Al's fish:

Even "pike" is too general a term, as I've heard some refer to walleye as blue pike, or just pike. Northern Pike Esox lucius, Musky Esox masquinongy, Redfin Pickerel Esox americanus americanus, and Chain Pickerel Esox niger (as well as hybrid "Tiger Musky" Esox lucius x masquinongy) are all very different fish, with outwardly similar appearance. Pike, Tigers, and Muskies can get pretty large, Muskies attaining truly giant size. The biggest Chain Pickerel I've ever caught went about 4 lbs. The biggest Northern Pike I've caught was 18 lbs. In a general sense Chain Pickerel are green, Northern Pike have light spots or bars on a dark background, and Muskie have Dark patterns on a light background.

What makes the Instagage and similar features so convenient, is that you do not have to keep pressing the thumb bar to keep it in free spool as you must with the flipping switch. Its more like an on/off switch. Feathering a cast is much easier, if your thumb is not multi tasking. The flipping switch works, but it is an add on. Flipping reels are better thought out, and more functional.

If your going to release the fish, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!!!!!! Just get a freaking scale.

I thought both Suffix and Power Pro were 4-strand. Suffix is pretty good stuff as well. I used to use, but I like Power Pro better. The eight strand is Daiwa Samurai Braid which is around $50 for a 300 yd. spool. Ouch!

That's funny, I've been using for 10 years that way, and I still have my original Daiwa EL2L, as well as two TDX HSDL's. No stripped gears here. In fact, the yoke would probably not let the pinion seat completely, and therefore no stripping, but it isn't a good idea to reengage with the spool spinning anyway. That isn't exclusive to flipping reels, though. I NEVER said you use it stop the spool! That is what your thumb is for. If you know about pitching baits, you'll know that you control the spool with your thumb at touch down, and then peel off line with you're free hand so the bait falls on slack line. The reason I don't us it for flipping is that I don't pull a random length of line off for the flip. I measure the depth by dropping the jig to the bottom. The pull the line out and flip it into the next pocket. If it goes slack before the line is out, reel down and set the hook. No need for the flipping switch.

I go with what works, and Power Pro works. There are some high end 8-strand braids that a few of my friends have been using and love, but the price is prohibitive.

But they achieve the same end: to reengage the spool without having to turn the handle. They aren't a gimmick, as many anglers asked for it Mechanically, the switch is a simpler, yet less durable solution than the Castaic or the TD-X's I use. Though they are basically the same thing. The flipping switch uses a spring to reengage the spool when you let your thumb off the clutch bar, whereas the others rely on you switching back manually. Some people will probably never need it, some will get one and learn how to use, and others cannot live without it. Personally, I like a left handed flipping reel (mine are TD-X HSDL). It allows me to palm the reel with my right hand, and release and reengage the spool without moving form that position. My left hand is then free to handle the bait, strip line on the fall, and reel in the bait (hopefully with a fish attached). My right hand does all the casting and hooksetting. What I find ironic, is that I never use this feature for flipping, LOL. It only seems useful to me for pitching.

P-line 100% FC Power Pro braid P-Line CXX Suffix Elite Gamma and P-Line FC leader material Cover, presence of zebes and quagga, clarity, depth, bait, etc. are what determines line choice. In general, I like braid for grass jigs, FC for deep or lite fineasse jigs, cranking and DS, mono for cranks, CXX for spinners, buzzers, TW, general use, leaders for finicky fish or for using braid in slice and dice zebe water.

Those prices match the local shops.

The only baits I use from Deps are Baryriski frogs.

Managing a fishery isn't so simple. Slot limits work well on on some waters, on others doesn't make a bean of difference. Your creel samples are anecdotal and do not provide a good indicator of average size and numbers. However, keeping a few, if that's your choice, to eat will probably not hurt the fishery, and may help. Age of the pit, forage, structure, source water, etc. all play a part. Real professionals spend a great deal of time and effort determining what is best (budget providing that's possible) and there's really no way for you or I to know what will maximize average size. The best bet is to keep a few if you must, and let the rest go, and observe what develops. It can take years to develop even a small water into a real honey hole.

Who cares about its classification? What chemical was used? Trade name or chemical name will be fine. Once you know that tidbit, anyone can look iti up and find both empirical and anecdotal evidence that supports or debunks fish kills.

Thanks for the link Wayne!

These two picture are of the same 4.5# smallmouth caught by a shore angler. I know it was 4.5 because I weighed before he could fillet it. Unless you take a picture of the fish hanging from a clearly marked scale, there ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to tell the weight. Same goes for length or girth. Some will call "wide angle distortion" but really it can be done with any focal length, and therefore is correctly referred to as perspective. As the distance from the camera to an object in the foreground decreases to less than half the distance of that object to another object behind it, the foreground object appears larger exponentially. How much bigger depends on the focal length. Shorter lenses will have a more dramatic effect. BTW, if you're going to use this to take a great looking picture, then at least hide the gargantuan hands, as in this next shot. This fish here weighed a hair over three, but looks a bit larger: Another technique is to use a shallow depth of field with a larger aperture to really make the fish pop out, as in this image, which also uses the same perspective distortion: I'm not discouraging anyone from using any of these techniques, or suggesting its dishonest. Since I don't think that the camera is great tool for documenting the size of the fish without any calibrated measuring devices depicted in the image, I say use it for what its good for: PICTURES! There is no better way to capture the emotions linked to catching a fish than the camera. That picture can framed and put on display so everyone that comes into your home, office, or business will know what makes you happy.

No winning. I want to learn more, just like you. "Because I said so, ..." isn't an answer. Not my style of learning.

Water bottle tape measure: $1.79 Photoshop Elements: $99 Server bandwidth to support this thread: 46542168486465189 kb/sec. $20 Berkley scale and knowing you caught a solid "Three": Priceless.

My uncle pulled up a dead dog fishing at our cottage years ago.

So are you saying that we should only be using the lubes that come with the reels. I am seriously curious about this. Shiamano doesn't give me greese with my reels. My Sustain just came with a small bottle of oil. Is it just Hot Sauce you are against? From what I have personally seen, both Hot Sauce oil and grease stain brass, plastic gears and other metal parts it gets on. It comes out of brass with Naphtha, but I'd rather use something like Simple Green to clean the reels. An OEM has to recommend using OEM oil, grease, and parts. Otherwise, warranty issues arise, and truthfully, their only experience would be limited to using their products. Imagine how much it would add to the cost of a reel for them to test all the available oils on the market? Its not like the automobile industry, where there are ISO and SAE standards for both the oil and engine manufacture.In my experience, you are never wrong to use OEM oil and grease on the corresponding reels. many companies will do this maintenance for you. I know Daiwa does it, not sure about Shimano. At any rate, in my experience (much less than RM - about ten years of working on reels) Shimano Drag Grease is the best bar none. For most small magnetic spool applications, Rocket Fuel Red Label works well. Better casters will like the Original Yellow label. The TX. grade oil is ridiculous, especially with a super tuned reels. Jighead turned me on to it, and its awesome. Again, there are warranty issues, and customers that ask for it, get it. otherwise, use what the OEMs use. Most of my own reels are WAYYYY out of warranty anyway, and some only retain the frame as still original. I do have a brand new Daiwa Sol, and that gets nothing but the oil that came with it.

Sorry, I will continue my education elsewhere, as I trust my BG in fisheries management and published works of accredited experts over internet muscles. No doubt there is more than one thing at work, depleting the O2, but in other posts your lack of knowledge about the temperature as it relates to potential DO, and how wind and current affect water's degassing ability leaves me a bit wary and dubious of your declarations. As you are probably aware, aquatic environments are quite different, and pose different circumstances not faced by terrestrial vegetation. I look forward to some actual links, or reference material you can provide - I'll bet we have some of the same books on our shelves, LOL.

Pound for Pound? Smallmouth bass, dinner plate bluegill, steelhead, and Chinook salmon come to mind as the strongest fighting fish in FW. Some, like drum, carp, bowfin, and northerns pull pretty hard, but landing them isn't as hopeless as some of the aforementioned species make it seem. the main challenge with Largemouth bass is choosing the right gear and developing the skill to overcome their choice of domain.

Raul is very correct with that statement. Its also slightly less noteworthy to mention that there is a link to pH and DO. The higher the DO, the higher the pH. Somewhere in my fishy library are tables with the exact potential DO of water by temp, but I'm not digging for it. Not sure what you mean by this. O2 and CO2 levels seek equilibrium between the air-water interface. Aeration via current, wind, and wave action speeds this process by creating greater surface area, less surface tension, and by circulating less oxygenated water to this air water interface. The "heat" created (created by bacterial action, BTW) is likely insignificant considering the insulating properties of water.